Photo credit: Alberta Forest Products Association.

By Curtis Galbraith

City Hall

City council votes to back AFPA effort against US tariffs, duties

Mar 25, 2025 | 6:00 AM

City council has approved having Mayor Jackie Clayton write a letter of support for the Alberta Forest Products Association and its push back against American duties and tariffs.

The letter is to include six points brought up by an AFPA delegation at Monday’s council meeting. Those include advocating for Alberta forest products in the US, keeping regulatory costs low and building with Alberta wood, including legislation similar to what B.C. and Quebec already have.

WoodWorks Alberta Executive Director Rory Koska says he is pleased to see council get on board.

“To have another municipality support building with wood and helping the forest community create more jobs and create more lumber and get it to places that it’s needed.”

As for building with more Alberta wood, Koska says Canada already produces a lot of lumber.

“And we produce a lot of engineered wood product that we can source from home. So, any new projects that are going on, we can source the material locally in Alberta. If not in Alberta, within Canada.”

“We can get away without having to pay any type of tariffs on anything that’s coming up from the US.”

Those points also include advocating for federal financial assistance. Koska says the US treasury has held $10 billion in duty deposits since 2016, money he says rightfully belongs to Canadian producers.

The association also wants to see new markets, naming several countries in Asia with growth potential, and wants the government to bring in a forestry manufacturing tax credit.

Koska says people in the forestry industry are “scared for their business and scared for their communities.”

He adds this effort to gather letters form municipalities will continue for another month.

“We’ll then work with the provincial government on talking about reducing some duties, hopefully helping us with tariffs or creating a Build with Wood act or policy to ensure that any public buildings, moving forward, are considering using wood as part of its structure.”

County of Grande Prairie council asked administration to provide a similar letter of support during its Monday meeting,

Kosak’s full presentation can be seen on the City of Grande Prairie’s YouTube channel.